A Batfamily Christmas
by Emerald Whirlwind
Summary: It's Christmas Eve in Gotham, and all of the members of the Batfamily are celebrating in their own, very different ways. Emeraldverse AU
1. All I Want For Christmas (is You)

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places depicted within, they all belong to DC Comics.**

**A/N: Holy crap, a new story! Yep, this one is gonna be a bit shorter than stuff I normally write, because I'm hoping to have this one done by Christmas. If not, then it'll be done shortly after. Either way, I hope you all enjoy and have a great Christmas!**

December 24th.

A day that would normally be filled with joy and merriment, were this any other city. However, most of the citizens of Gotham celebrated with a sort of cautious joy, knowing that at any moment some huge disaster could strike the city or its inhabitants. Still, there were always people who found a way to keep positive during the season.

Bruce Wayne was not one of those people.

Sure he enjoyed the holiday for what it was and what it represented, but he could never appreciate it the same way others could. Mostly because to him, it was just another work-day.

Today had been mostly average in terms of crime, just your average purse-snatchers and shoplifters with no major criminals in sight. It would almost be a relief, if it wasn't so strange.

He patrolled high and low throughout the city's many streets and avenues, looking for any sign of a costume where it shouldn't be.

He considered whether the cold and snow that was currently beating down on the city could be deterring any possible criminals, but since it had never stopped any of them before, he doubted that it would start to now.

After a couple hours, he decided that either he and his team had been doing a better job of cleaning up the streets than he'd thought or that something, "Christmas Spirit" or otherwise, was keeping all of his rogues away.

Unless something were to suddenly come up, which it almost always did, he was going to head back to the manor and start helping Alfred with the Christmas Eve dinner preparations. He could only hope that the other members of his extended family wouldn't be too hard on Alfred... or the furniture.

A familiar flash of black fabric inside of a nearby jewelry store meant that his plans were going to be momentarily interrupted.

~ooo~

You'd think that after a while, people would stop advertising expensive exhibits in Gotham.

But, to the delight of the woman now holding a sparkling blue diamond necklace, they still continued to let lovely and expensive jewelry fall into the hands of the World's Greatest Thief herself.

This piece was one she'd had her eye on for some time now. The Larme de Noel, or "Christmas Teardrop" necklace. It was said that whoever wished upon the necklace on Christmas Eve would have their wish granted the next day through some sort of "Christmas Miracle" crap. She just liked the cut of the gem within.

Of course, all good revelries have to come to an end, and that cowled crimefighter up in the rafters signaled that hers had just ended. Now came the fun part.

"Selina."

The way Batman said it was almost ridiculous, like she was some sort of child with their hand caught in a cookie jar. Well, she wasn't going to let him off easy now.

"Bruce." she said in a way that she hoped matched his scolding tone.

"I expected someone like Calender Man or even Mr. Freeze, but Catwoman was pretty low on my list of possible criminals-at-large."

"Well, then I think the list needs updating," Selina replied with a smirk, "Don't you remember how unpredictable I am?"

Bruce wasn't amused by her current repartee, if that death-stare behind his cowl was any indication.

"Besides," she continued while trailing her fingers around the necklace's jeweled center, "I was just grabbing myself the perfect Christmas present, since I doubt you were planning on getting it for me... I've been a pretty good girl this year, wouldn't you say?" She winked at the still very much unamused Dark Knight.

"I would think that you would be spending Christmas Eve with Holly." Bruce said, sounding almost concerned.

"Holly's already been given her present," Catwoman responded idly, "and so have my two "best girlfriends" in Arkham."

"Harley and Ivy?"

"Yep," she began to twirl the gemstone in her hands, "Don't worry, nothing they can use to break out." _Unless they were _really _creative... _she mentally noted.

Somehow, she figured that Bruce was beginning to tire of just talking, so she decided to wrap things up.

"Well Bruce, while I'd absolutely _love _to stay here and shoot the breeze for a bit longer, I have to be getting home to enjoy my rightfully-earned gift. Don't want buyers remorse, you know?"

But, to her surprise, it was Bruce who asked the final question.

"What makes you so sure that you've earned it?"

She stopped mid-run to ponder a way to respond to that.

_Did _she really deserve something like this? She'd been helping out Batman and his crew more than she cared to admit lately, the last thing she wanted was for people to think that Catwoman had turned to the side of "good" completely. Because when people started thinking things like that, they started taking advantage.

And if there's one thing Selina hated, it was people thinking they could take advantage of her.

But at the same time, she didn't want to fully lose the small sliver of trust she'd managed to gain from Bruce.

What was a girl supposed to say at a time like this?

"Aren't you supposed to be going to a party or something?"

Well, she tried.

"Not until you return what you've stolen."

Great, he was just _not _going to make this easy, was he? Well, if he wasn't, then she wasn't either.

"Only if you can catch me first."

And with that, she was off at a brisk run, climbing up the rafters as fast as she could.

_That ought to teach him._

As she heard the familiar sound of a grappling hook being fired behind her, she knew that her Christmas Eve was just getting started.


	2. Silent Night

December 24th.

Not a particularly difficult day for the young woman currently sitting at her desk, strumming her keyboard.

But then again, nothing was ever truly difficult when you have constant information at your fingertips.

Still, she was beginning to become quite bored. Normally there was some sort of grand villainous scheme she would be helping stop on a holiday as major as this, supercriminals and their theatrics you know, but so far no one had much need for Oracle today.

Nevertheless, she still had remained at her post for most of the day, because if there was one thing she knew, it was that eventually someone always needed Oracle.

She decided to check in with Bruce since there wasn't much else she had to do at the moment. He was a pretty paranoid guy, maybe he had some new leads or suspicions or something. _Anything_ to do to keep from being bored out of her mind.

"Anything yet?"

"I think I saw Catwoman, I'll call you if I need anything."

Well that was a whole lot of nothing.

Just as Barbara was getting ready to give up entirely and head for some hot cocoa, she saw that one of her proximity alarms had been tripped.

_And it's a level 12 too. Only a handful of people can even_ get_ to those. Whoever I'm dealing with could be seriously bad news._

Before she even was aware of someone's presence in the darkly lit room, she was already grabbing her eskrima sticks and preparing to strike.

"Whoa, Babs!" spoke an all-too-familiar voice, "You turn that chair any faster and the wheels'll break off."

Barbara was just as startled as the young vigilante that had not-so-quietly entered her control room.

"Geez, Dick!" Oracle exclaimed with irritation, "Don't do that to me, I thought you were some kind of assassin."

"You kidding?" the young man replied with a slight fold of the arms, "Like any assassin could get in here undetected."

"You _weren't _undetected." the woman said whilst jerking her thumb toward the still-flashing alarm. "You're getting a bit sloppy, Grayson."

Dick merely shrugged and said, "So sue me. Time in Bludhaven taking its toll, I guess."

"Speaking of which, what _does_ bring you to Gotham?"

"Would you believe I'm here to see you?" the young man spoke with a huge smirk.

"Nice try, Dick. I'm starting to think you're living up to your name."

"Hey!" he gave her a playful shove, "It's true!"

"Oh, _really_?"

"_Yes_, really."

Barbara gave him a look that indicated she knew he wasn't being fully truthful.

"Okay, so _technically_ I'm here to see all of you."

_That_, she could believe. Bruce had sent a blanket invitation to a Christmas Eve dinner to most of his extended family, Dick included. Barbara herself planned to attend later that evening.

"So what made you come over _this _year?"

Dick looked around somewhat awkwardly.

"Kori did."

Oh, _her_.

Barbara knew she shouldn't be so bitter, that she should be _happy_ that Dick was in a new relationship, but she just couldn't shake the idiotic feeling of jealousy that welled up inside her whenever that girl's name was mentioned.

"She _did_, huh?"

"Yeah, she said that I should be spending such a 'joyous occasion' with my family."

"Well that was... thoughtful of her."

"So, I figured I'd spend some time at Bruce's for a few, then head over to Jump City to spend time with the Titans."

"_And _with your bodacious Tamaranian-princess girlfriend?"

"Hey, she's the reason I stopped by your place first."

"How?"

Dick shifted a bit uncomfortably.

"She wanted me to sort of... clear the air between you and I. I haven't really talked to you much lately."

Barbara wheeled her chair back over to her main console.

"I figured you didn't have much to say."

"Look, Babs," Dick said as he started walking over to her, "I still care about you, you're like a big sister to me and you always will be."

Barbara closed her eyes and remained silent.

"And I didn't break up because of the wheelchair. Honestly, I don't really _know _why I did. I guess I've just changed a lot since we were together."

Barbara was trying to hold back tears that currently wanted to come falling out. She knew she had to say something, but didn't quite know what to say right then.

"I just thought that I would see if you were okay with the whole thing," Barbara could hear Dick start walking away from her, "But if your not, then I guess I shouldn't stay in Gotham for too long."

"Wait!" she suddenly exclaimed, "I am okay. At least as okay as I _can _be."

She turned her chair to face him yet again, and was relieved to see that he wasn't as upset as he'd seemed.

"That's great," he said with a smile, "Cause Kori would really like to go out somewhere with you one of these days."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you two could talk and probably share stories about how stupid I am together."

Barbara couldn't help but giggle at that image.

"Or maybe we could debate why it is that you prefer redheads?"

Dick joined in with her laughter that time.

"So I'm still allowed at the party?"

"Yes, you are," she said in an amused tone, "Just don't embarrass yourself, okay?"

"If there's alcohol, no guarantees."

As Dick began to walk out the door, Barbara couldn't help but say, "See you then."

"You too, Babs."

"And don't set off anymore alarms on the way out! Those things are a bitch to reprogram."

Maybe she could take a break. After all, hot cocoa wasn't going to magically make itself.


	3. Auld Lang Syne

**A/N: So my job got in the way of writing this story for the last week or so, but I'm gonna try and get out the last three chapters of this story as quickly as possible, so bear with me. I hope everyone reading had a wonderful Christmas and enjoys this new chapter! (As a side note, thank you all so much for your faves, follows, and comments, they really mean a lot to me!) **

December 24th.

She'd been tracking this son of a bitch for days, weeks, maybe even months now. She didn't know, she'd lost count of the hours spent on this particular case.

Who was he, you may ask?

His name was Antonio Maiotti. An old friend of the Falcones, and also an incredibly difficult person to track down.

What was his crime? What _wasn't_?

You name it, he'd dabbled in it at some point. From extortion to armed robbery, selling drugs to human trafficking, this guy had done it all.

Why hadn't he been caught yet, you may ask? Because he never stayed in one business or even city for very long, and whenever he left for somewhere new, he left little to no evidence behind.

"But surely," you may be saying, "Batman or one of his accomplices must be close to catching him?"

And they would be, except for the fact that she was currently outside Maiotti's newest safehouse, preparing her entrance and beatdown plans. And when the Huntress was after someone, Batman tended to stay _far _away.

Helena wouldn't have it any other way.

Why was she after him?

It was... somewhat personal.

Her late mother had, a long time ago, worn a lovely broach of a bird with an arrow through its wing, a symbol of the Panessa family that had been handed down for generations.

After her parents' death, some of their belongings had gone missing while Helena had been in Sicily, and she hadn't really cared that much. Until she'd heard that the brooch was among the missing items.

Helena had loved her mother's brooch, and as a child, had always looked forward to the day when she would be able to wear it as well.

When she had tracked down and killed her biological father, Santo Cassamento, she'd figured that he would have stolen it. Indeed, more than a few items that had belonged to her mother had fallen into his hands. But not the brooch.

She had figured that it was probably lost forever, until recently, when she'd heard that a brooch matching the description of her mother's had been seen in the office of Mr. Maiotti.

As if his stream of crimes wasn't enough to want him dead already.

Helena was ready to start her assault any moment now, if anything, just to get out of the snow before she caught hypothermia. Why couldn't she have made a _warmer_ costume?

But, of course, things could never go as smoothly as she planned in her head, as some punk in a leather jacket and red helmet had just decided to come barreling through Maiotti's defenses on a motorbike.

Wait, she'd heard about that guy, he called himself the Red Hood or something like that, right?

Well, it looked like her night was going to become a bit more complicated than previously thought, but it might have possibly gotten just a little bit easier too.

~ooo~

Jason could almost hear the sounds of his insurance flipping him the bird right about now.

He dismounted his, by now completely scuffed, motorbike just in time to see a group of Maiotti's hired thugs coming at him with weapons in hand.

"Now, now," he started while reaching into his jacket, "Let's not all be stupid at once."

That didn't seem to be deterring them in any way, so Jason guessed it was time to bust out the semiautomatics.

He had to admit, they were smarter than he initially gave them credit for. Once he broke out the guns and began firing, more than a few thugs who weren't heavily armed ran off, probably to alert their boss.

The ones that stayed were gonna be in for a hell of a time.

~ooo~

That masked idiot was going to be there for a while it seemed. Hopefully long enough for Helena to slip by unnoticed into the safehouse.

She crept as silently as she could past the hectic battle between Red Hood and his attackers.

She was almost impressed, the kid could hold his own pretty well.

She'd heard that he was a former protege of Batman's, and it definitely showed. His form was great for someone with only his fists and two small guns.

And an old student of Batman's who killed? She could _really_ learn to like that.

With all the commotion, she was hoping that she wouldn't be noticed by the strange vigilante.

But, hopes never get you too far, and as she crawled through one of the outer windows into the building, ol' Red over there had looked up just in time to see her and give chase.

She sprinted through the upper walkways of the building, knocking and smashing through various mooks as fast as she could, not caring who got in her way.

She was almost within range of her target's planning room when she was cut off by the scarlet-masked crimefighter.

"What's your rush, lady?" he asked with an irritating sardonic tone that was most assuredly not taught by Batman.

"Out of my way!" she yelled in reply, "I don't have time for this!"

"You're here for Maiotti, right?" he responded strangely calmly.

"What's it to you?"

"I just thought you should know he's actually in his office about four hallways down." he said while pointing in the opposite direction of where she was heading.

"How can I trust you? You could be stalling until Batman gets here."

"Hey," he started while raising his hands, "I was just trying to help, go the wrong way if you want."

Something about his voice seemed incredibly sincere, so Huntress decided to hear him out.

"Besides," he continued, "I _don't _work for Batman anymore."

"Why are you here then?"

"One word: money. A guy's got to live somehow, and Maiotti's got a _huge_ price on his head."

So the kid was a mercenary. This just kept getting better and better.

"But if you beat me to him, I'll just have to nail someone else. Guess that's just how life goes sometimes."

"Hold on kid," she said with a sudden idea, "I think we can both benefit from this. How about we both kill him?"

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. He's probably got extra security around his office anyway. And I'm really only after something he took from me."

"Alright, lady. As long as I get to deliver his head back to my employer, you've got yourself a deal."

) O (

It was a hell of a fight, but in the end both vigilantes got what they wanted. Helena's mother would be able to rest more at peace, and Jason would be able to pay rent for the next six months or so.

Before they parted ways however, Helena had to ask something she'd wondered since meeting the masked kid.

"Why did you leave Batman's little group, anyway?"

"Same reason as you, I guess. We had different ideas of how to serve justice."

Huntress felt like prying since she knew that wasn't the complete truth.

"Who were you when you were with him?"

"Robin."

"I already know another guy who used to be Robin too. And there's some kid who was Robin after him, but no one talks about him too much since, as I understand, he died."

Red Hood removed his helmet-like mask to reveal a somewhat rugged but youthful face that was covered in faded scars.

"I got better."

Of course no one could ever be dead in the superhero world, it was just a universal law or something.

Still, at least this explained why Bruce didn't talk about the second Robin very much.

Helena folded her arms and smirked.

"Do you ever see him anymore?"

"Not really."

"You know, he's holding a Christmas Eve dinner tonight. He even invited _me_."

"Not interested."

"Okay, just making a suggestion."

"Suggestion not needed."

The kid hopped on his motorbike that was surprisingly still running.

"Thanks for the help, lady." he said as he drove off.

Helena wondered if stubbornness just ran in the family over at Bruce's.


	4. I'll be Home for Christmas

**A/N: Holy crap, that took a while to finish. I guess that's what happens when you suddenly come down with massive writer's block. Hopefully the last two chapters are released a bit more quickly! Special thanks to my younger sister for helping me write Wally West!**

December 24th.

The flight from Hong Kong to the States hadn't been as long as she'd expected, but she was still a bit late for her arrival in Gotham.

Well, technically she'd arrived in Central City which was where her plane had landed, but close enough.

When she'd recieved Bruce's invitation to a Christmas Eve dinner, at first she hadn't wanted to go. There was still so much for her to do over in Asia, Cassandra felt it wasn't her place to simply leave to have dinner with her friends.

No. Her _family_.

But she had thought about just how _long _it had been since she'd seen them, how she missed being in the company of her _true_ family, and she'd decided she wouldn't miss this for the world.

Even now, she wondered how the others were faring. Tim, Stephanie, Barbara, Dick, it would be great to see them all again.

Cassandra walked briskly through the Keystone City airport, trying to get through the crowds of noisy bystanders as quickly as possible.

Even though she now could speak, she would never get used to the feeling of speech. And she still couldn't bear to hear the sound of other people's speech for too long. Especially this _much _of it.

She continued her swift pace through the crowds that felt just a bit too close for comfort, passing many groups of happy family and friends along with the normal travelers.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't felt a pang of longing for that kind of company that she'd left behind months before.

But, there was no time to dwell on those thoughts. Her main focus was going to be on how to even _get_ to Gotham in time for the dinner.

She ducked into an alleyway after she felt she'd gotten far enough away from the airport and stripped down into her more comfortable (in her mind anyway) "work clothes".

She figured that travel by rooftop would be the fastest way to Gotham, or at least to a faster mode of transportation.

Cassandra's grapple gun was shorter than the ones used by other members of the Batfamily, but it could still get her where she needed to go.

This was the feeling that she could always count on to clear her mind.

The rush of adrenaline that her body had grown so used to, the sound of the cold wind in her ears as she raced across the buildings of Keystone City, she could almost lose herself and forget about the endless noise of the world below.

But there were always moments that made her glad that she hadn't been too caught up in her own instincts.

As she spotted the suspicious-looking man carrying a sack of some no doubt ill-gotten gains, she realized that this was most likely going to be one of them.

~ooo~

_It figures,_ thought the crimson figure dashing through Keystone City at a faster than average speed, _the _one _day a year that I spend a lot of time at the orphanage, some ass decides to kidnap one of the kiddos. _Now_ I have to waste precious time that could be spent giving them presents to catch this creep._

The Flash navigated the twisting and turning roads, hoping to find any trace of recent kidnapping activity. An action that would have been easier, if not for the blanket of still-falling snow that currently covered the streets.

_And since I was helping out in Africa earlier, the guy's already gotten a head start. When I find him, he's gonna have a lot to answer for._

At that moment, the scarlet speedster nearly gave himself whiplash with how quickly he came to a stop.

A large van that seemed to be a perfect match for the police description of the kidnapper's vehicle was parked outside an old, dilapidated and abandoned church.

You know, the kind of place that should practically have a giant neon sign pointing to it that flashes the words "Commit criminal activity here"?

_Why didn't I think to check someplace like this in the first place?_ _Maybe__ I thought it was too obvious or something._

He sped undetected to a nearby window, hoping to see if anyone was still inside.

Fortunately, it appeared that he'd found the kidnappers and the kid too. Unfortunately, the kidnappers were members of the Cult of Samarkanth, a group of demon-worshipers who'd recently taken up residence in Keystone City.

_I thought I got rid of all those noobs, _Wally thought to himself, _but I guess I missed a few._

He noticed that his quarry, the young orphan named Aleah, appeared to be the centerpiece for some sort of dark ritual involving magic that was _definitely _not kosher.

_I knew they were jerks, but child sacrifice? That's pretty low for small-time players like them._

All that mattered at the moment however, was getting the small girl to safety.

It was then that he saw a masked young woman drop down from wherever she was hiding and engage the cultists in some nearly-mortal combat.

She moved so quickly and gracefully it was almost as though she'd rehearsed this fight a million times. He almost decided not to go inside at all, seeing as how she could clearly handle herself.

He would have left, if he hadn't saw the masked girl kneeling over the last goon in the bunch, say something to him, and then hit him in the chest so as to stop his heart.

~ooo~

Not long after she'd struck the man's chest, Cassandra found herself pushed backwards by an incredible force.

"You just took it a bit too far there, kid." spoke a slightly obnoxious voice.

When she recovered her bearings, she saw that the voice had come from the hero known as The Flash, who was now reviving the near-dead cultist.

"I don't know who taught you how to superhero," he continued in a peeved tone, "but we don't kill in my city."

"I was not going to kill him," Cassandra said as the cultist finally pulled through, "he said he wanted to bring the beauty of death to others. He wanted to eventually experience it himself. I was showing him that death is _not_ wondrous."

"Well," the speedster replied as in a split second, he tied up the cult members for the police to find and released the child from her bindings, "could you try toning it down a bit next time? There was a kid present, ya know?"

) O (

The kid was returned to the orphanage safe and sound as fast as Wally could manage. He told the other children he would return shortly with their gifts, but that he had one more thing to take care of first.

That thing was the masked young lady who was frankly starting to creep him out a bit.

He knew she had to be affiliated with Batman in some way due to the red emblem that was emblazoned across her chest, but why would one of B-Man's trainees be willing to kill, even if she could revive them?

He ran up to where she was walking and decided to just be himself and start up a conversation with her. He hoped she would at least have the decency to answer his questions.

"What do you call yourself, kid?"

"Black Bat."

Well that was ominous.

"Why did ya feel the need to, uh, teach that guy a lesson back there?"

She stared at him for a bit, then answered.

"Because someone who is willing to kill a child in the name of attaining happiness must never have experienced death before. He will not kill again."

Wally doubted that, but hey, what did he know?

"Whatever you say. Are you headed anywhere in particular?"

She simply looked up toward nowhere in particular and said "Home."

"Does it happen to be in Gotham? Cause I could, ya know, maybe give you a lift."

The girl appeared to mull that idea over for a bit, then responded with a small nod.

"Alright, I'll give you a ride. But could you do something real quick for me first?"

She looked at Wally in a quizzical sort of way.

"The kids back at the orphanage," he explained, "would really like to meet the one who saved Aleah. She wouldn't stop talking about you when we got back."

She smiled and said softly "Alright."

) O (

Cassandra found her visit to the orphanage surprisingly pleasant, for what it was worth.

She had to admit, seeing children be so enthralled by Flash's tale of adventure _was_ quite amusing. They seemed to hang on his every word.

He had introduced her as impressively as only he could manage, calling her the "Toughest Girl He'd Ever Seen" who "opened a major can of... butt-whoop" on the cultists.

He'd also managed to bring gifts to every one of the orphans, no doubt obtained from a donation center of some sort. Although, with Flash's demeanor and how well he seemed to know each child, she could almost believe that perhaps he _had_ gone and bought individual gifts for each of them. It would not be difficult for someone with his abilities.

At first, the children seemed rather leery of Cassandra and her Black Bat persona, but after a while they had started to warm up to her somewhat chilly demeanor. Aleah had even given her a picture of herself drawn in crayon before she'd gone on her way.

All in all, the visit allowed Cassandra to remember that sometimes being a hero called for more than simply dispensing justice. It also called for interaction with the world's people, even if it caused her some discomfort. Perhaps she had even inspired a young girl to take up a similar mantle someday.

After that minor detour, The Flash brought her to Gotham as he had promised.

And not a moment too soon, as the dinner was due to start in around an hour.

Before she had the chance to get out her grappling hook, Flash stopped her with one last question.

"By the way, I never asked, what _is _your name? Your real one, I mean."

She stood still for a moment.

"Mine's Wally," he added during said moment.

"Cassandra," she replied as she fired her grappling hook and swung off into the city night.

As she left she decided that, although some people speak too much, some people say just enough. It would seem that both her and Wally were one of those people.


	5. Joy to the World

**A/N: Whew, finally! Thank you everyone for being so patient with me! There's only one small chapter left, let's hope I can post it before this Christmas...**

December 24th.

It had been about three hours since she'd gotten the text earlier that morning. Batman was holding some kind of party that evening, and _somehow_ she was invited.

Not that Stephanie was _that _surprised, after all she _had _been operating as Batgirl for over a year and a half now.

It was just that, Bruce had never seemed to be comfortable with her being in the crime-fighting business, even in the beginning when she was running around in a completely eggplant costume.

He had gone to some pretty extreme lengths to ignore her as Spoiler, and even now refused to acknowledge her as a true Batgirl. He wouldn't even let her be seen on patrol with him, although that didn't stop her from hanging with his current Robin, Tim Drake.

_And now all of a sudden he's inviting me to dinner like I'm just part of the family?_

She wondered if Babs or Tim had anything to do with this. Babs probably had at least something to hold over him, and Lord knows Tim was always looking to spend more time with her.

Either way, this could finally be her official Seal of Approval from the B-man, and she couldn't afford to miss it.

She felt pretty bad about spending part of her Christmas Eve away from her mom's place, though. It wasn't very often that she stayed somewhere other than her dorm at Gotham University lately, and she still had a few things to catch up on before she left again.

She glanced momentarily over at her recently aquired (if nine months ago could be considered recent) cat, Nugget, who was happily playing in the corner of the guest room.

It was impressive how portly her formerly-little kitty had managed to become over the past year. But she supposed that wasn't the strangest thing about the feline that she'd ever noticed. Stephanie thought that she'd seen her eyes glow before, and once she could have sworn she'd caught a glimpse of her floating in the air.

There was no time to think about those things anymore, as Stephanie's phone began to ring and flash an all too familiar name.

"What's up, Tim?" She asked, wondering what her current possible love-interest could be wanting this early in the day.

"Hey Steph, just wondering if you got the message."

"The one that says that I'm finally able to hang out at the family clubhouse?" she replied snarkily, "Yeah, I saw it this morning."

"Great!" the current Boy Wonder exclaimed with just a bit too much enthusiasm, "It took me weeks of pestering Bruce before he even _considered _letting you come over. I'm glad it paid off."

"Why? Did you want to see me _that _much?"

"No," Tim said with a tone of voice that clearly meant _Yes, _"I just thought that with all the work you've been putting in as Batgirl lately, you'd want to be recognized for it."

"Well isn't that just _sweet_ of you."

"I thought so."

"So I take it you're going to be there as well?"

"Hopefully," Tim replied in a way that didn't sound too confident, "You see, my dad wants me to go to this big fancy party that one of his business partners is holding, I'll be lucky if I can even _attempt_ to sneak out."

"That sucks, I still hope you can make it though."

"I'll try my best, if I don't, maybe you can find some other teenage crime-fighter to be your 'date' tonight."

Stephanie couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

"_Yeah_... 'Cause I just know _so _many of those..."

"You have to know at least one besides me, right?"

The current Batgirl thought long and hard about any opposite sex teen heroes that she might have met during her tenure. Not an easy task, especially as there weren't many young heroes in Gotham to begin with.

"Well... There's Klarion..."

"Wait," Tim started in surprise, "Is he a blue-skinned emo pilgrim-looking kid with a magick cat?"

"Yeah," she answered sounding almost as surprised as Tim, "I take it you've met him too?"

"Yep, last year. He helped me stop a hell-beast from destroying the world, so, you know, a typical day in Gotham. You?"

"I met him this Valentine's Day, helped him stop his cat from rampaging through the city. He's kind of a weirdo, but an okay kid."

"You've kept in contact with him?"

"More like he's kept in contact with _me_. He pops up in my life every now and then."

"It'd be cool to see him again, you should try and get him to come to the dinner, I'm sure I could convince Bruce that it's okay. After all, he's had his help in the past too."

The blonde Batgirl wondered how bad a situation had to be for _Batman _to require the witchboy's assistance. She decided that whatever it was, she probably didn't want to know.

"Aw crap," Tim interjected during her wandering thoughts, "My dad just called for me, I've gotta go. I'll talk to you later, and hopefully see you and Klarion at Bruce's. Bye!"

Stephanie barely had time to utter a quick "Bye" in reply before her call abruptly ended.

_It's easy for him to suggest things like that,_ the young vigilante thought with irritation, _but how am _I _supposed to find where that little blue dork lives? It's not like he's ever invited me to any slumber parties..._

~ooo~

Meanwhile, a perpetually teenaged witchboy sitting comfortably in his pocket-dimensional home let out an immense sigh of boredom. His familiar Teekl crawled over and mewed in agreement.

"I just don't understand it Teekl," the witch said in exasperation, "Normally I'd wish to be out exploring or even just playing in that wonderful thing known as snow, but somehow I just don't have the energy."

"Perhaps you should go and visit that girl you're so fond of," Teekl telepathically spoke with sarcasm, "I'm sure causing her irritation would lift your spirits in no time."

"That's a great idea girl!" Klarion exclaimed as he excitedly picked up his pet. She didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.

"Don't worry," the witchboy reassured his familiar, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I just popped over for a quick visit... right?"

Teekl responded with an expression of the 'You-know-you- shouldn't-be-doing-this' sort.

"Oh, what does it matter if she does anyway?"

And with that, the young witch and his cat disappeared in a flash of magick.

~ooo~

Almost as soon as her call had ended, Stephanie was startled by her mother knocking on her bedroom door.

"Honey, are you ever going to come out of your room? I made some lunch if you want to come out and eat."

"Yeah, I'll be right out," the blonde crimefighter replied distractedly.

"Who were you talking to, Stephie?"

"Just a friend, Mom."

Unfortunately for the lost-in-thought young woman, just as she was opening the door, a certain impish friend of hers had decided to magically poof into her life yet again.

"Hello, Miss Brown!" the witch happily exclaimed in that posh voice of his while her mother appeared as though she were about to faint.

_In normal circumstances I'd say that this was convenient, but right now is probably not the time to have to tell my mom "Hey, this is my magick friend that I met while continuing to disobey you by crimefighting."_

Stephanie instead opted to make an angry gesture in the vain hope that it would get through the little dweeb's rather stubborn skull.

"Oh," the boy said in sudden realization, "Oops."

"Not to worry," he continued suddenly much calmer, "I can fix this."

He raised his hand which began a slight glow in that magenta color of his magick and said, "_Obliviscaris omnibus quae vidistis!"_

The woman named Crystal Brown stopped her movements entirely, and her eyes became hollow and listless.

His hand still raised, Klarion snapped his fingers and gave the curt command of "_Iam, desere!_", causing the girl's mother to quickly walk away from her bedroom.

Once her mother was far away from her room, Stephanie turned toward her blue-skinned invader and snarled, "What were you _thinking_, barging in here like this?!"

"The spell can only take me to your exact location," the witchboy grumbled, "How was _I _to know where you would be?"

Stephanie held her fingers to her forehead and tried to stop her incoming migraine.

"Anyways," she said as quickly as possible, "What are you even _doing _here?"

"Well," the boy began while reclining in the air above the middle of her room, "I was looking for some entertainment to stave off the intense boredom I've recently become afflicted with."

"Does the idea of a dinner party sound like enough entertainment for you?"

"I suppose..." Klarion said, apparently mulling over the proposal, "Who is the one holding such a party?"

"Batman. I was invited, and Tim wanted to see if you'd be willing to come too."

"You know Tim Drake?"

"Yeah, we're pretty good friends. Anyways, do you want to come or not?"

The witch spared a glance at Teekl, who was currently sniffing and playing with Nugget, who seemed to be quite comfortable with the Draaga-cat.

"Yes, but this doesn't happen to be a Christmas party does it?"

"Why?"

"I told you before," the blue-skinned boy pouted while crossing his arms, "I hate Christmas. Everything's all too cheery and saccharine and the music grates on the ears and it's just all too much!"

"Well..." Stephanie began with a sarcastic grin on her face, "Tim's going to be pretty upset when I tell him you can't make it... And I would never have thought _you'd _be one to turn down free food..."

Klarion was quiet for about a few seconds, then asked one small question:

"Will there be cake?"

"You betcha."

"All right then," the witchboy started with a great amount of renewed energy, "Come, Teekl! We've a party to attend!"

Stephanie then realized that since the party wasn't until later that evening, she would have to keep the little magick-user and his cat distracted for a while.

_I suppose instilling a little Christmas spirit shouldn't be _too_ difficult._

But it would take awhile, especially with all of the other things around the house she still needed to do.

_Well, there goes the rest of _my _day..._


End file.
